The best sign yet for Windows 8.1: Microsoft is making it a free upgrade

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As someone who admires the innovations that Microsoft made with Windows 8 while at the same time recognizing the platforms glaring flaws, Ive found it encouraging that the company has decided to own up to some of its mistakes and dial back some of the big changes it made to its operating system with the release of Windows 8.1. The new update, which Microsoft announced Tuesday would be available as a public preview starting on June 26th, will reportedly bring back the Start button as an option and give users the choice of booting up their computers in desktop mode. But the feature that really has me excited about Windows 8.1 and that makes me think Microsoft is serious about listening to its customers is that its providing the update free of charge for all Windows 8 users.

Why am I particularly enthused by this? Because giving things away for free a la Google isnt Microsofts normal modus operandi, which is why you have to pay a fee for the right to use Office on your PC, why OEMs have to pay fees for the right to build Windows-based PCs, why gamers have to pay for Xbox Live Gold memberships and so forth. And while its true that the company does give away service packs to its existing Windows customers, it seems that Windows 8.1 is much more of a real upgrade to the existing platform and not a simple system of tweaks. In other words, its something you might expect the company to charge customers money for.

What Microsofts decision to make Windows 8.1 a free upgrade shows me is that the company sees it as a way to reconnect with those users who have been put off by the changes made in Windows 8 rather than as a quick cash grab for people who want the Start button back. And while its far too early to tell whether the company will be successful in bringing more people into the Windows 8 fold with the new update, its a very good sign that the company recognizes that its upset some of its users and is offering to help them free of charge.

Microsoft on Wednesday posted a video walk-through of its new Windows 8.1 operating system highlighting improvements to the Start screen, search function and more. Microsofts new lock screen will no longer display a single static image, but will instead scroll through a collage of photos generated from a users PC, SkyDrive account and Windows Phone. The company has added two different Live Tile sizes to Start screen, and Windows 8.1 will deliver more personalization options with more background colors and new animated wallpapers that move as you scroll through the Start screen, called motion accents.The company also improved the All Apps screen and search tools. Apps can be sorted by name, date installed, most used or by category, and multiple apps can be selected, pinned and personalized with a simple gesture. The search feature has been revamped to bring together content from the PC and results from the Web all in one place.Microsoft will release a preview edition of Windows 8.1 on June 26th. The video walkthrough follows below.

Microsoft on Wednesday launched its latest effort to reverse the fortunes of its Windows platform, showing off a line of new devices and unveiling Windows 8.1, a new build designed to boost interest in the company's underperforming Windows 8.

At its Build developer conference at San Francisco's Moscone Center, Microsoft looked to woo developers and win over customers who have been reluctant to upgrade to its newest operating system. As the company confirmed in the past, Windows 8.1 will feature the return of the Start Menu, as well as the option to bypass the touch-centric Modern UI and boot directly to the desktop.

The changes represent possibly the biggest about-face in the history of the software giant, which rolled out Windows 8 last year with the intention of reversing a trend that has seen consumers increasingly opting for smartphones and tablets while the PC market struggles. The pivot back toward Windows standards like boot-to-desktop and the Start Menu has been described by some observers as the biggest reversal since New Coke.

The Build conference came just eight months after the company's last developer conference, and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer pointed to a new "rapid pace of innovation" at the firm as the reason.

"It's about the transformation that we are going through as a company to move to an absolutely rapid release cycle," Ballmer said in his address to kick off Microsoft's keynote. Microsoft typically iterates Windows every three years or so, but the new version will likely release before Windows 8 is even one year old.

Ballmer in his initial address took the time to show a range of devices running Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8 software. Wednesday's presentation, though, focused little on Microsoft's struggling smartphone OS.

Instead, Ballmer simply mentioned and showed off several new handsets  including Nokia's Lumia 925and several low-cost handsets  before moving on to Windows 8.1. The largest news on Microsoft's smartphone front, perhaps, was the arrival of Windows Phone 8 handsets from Nokia and Samsung on Sprint, the United States' third-largest wireless carrier.

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Ballmer attempted to put a positive spin on one of Windows 8's largest problems, the dearth of apps specifically designed for the platform. Windows 8 runs legacy Windows apps in a desktop environment but, due to low overall adoption rates for Windows 8 and Windows RT, developers have been reluctant to devote the resources to developing apps that run in the new tile-centric user interface.

While 100,000 apps would represent a milestone for the platform, Ballmer's statement is a tacit admission of Windows 8's struggles. Launching Windows 8 last year, the company predicted there would be 100,000 apps in the Windows Store by February, with some 400 million Windows 8 devices sold by July of this year.

Over the course of the presentation, Ballmer and other Microsoft representatives showed off a range of form factors running the newest version of Windows, including iPad mini-sized tablets, touch-enabled all-in-one desktops, and convertible hybrids with detachable keyboard docks.

Windows Vice President Antoine Leblond took the time to specifically call out Apple in showing off a new Samsung Ultrabook, noting the device's high pixel density display.

"It blows away a MacBook Retina," Leblond said, holding up the Samsung device, which has a higher resolution screen than Apple's Retina MacBook Pros, as well as battery life comparable to the new MacBook Airs, "and it has a touchscreen."

Aside from the return of the Start Menu and the boot-to-desktop option, Microsoft showed off a number of tweaks and additions to its operating system. The Windows team has worked to improve touchscreen text entry on their devices, showing off a gesture based auto-suggest interaction feature, allowing users to swipe along the keyboard in order to select a suggested word.

Microsoft also showed off increased Bing integration, saying that the search engine has consistently grown market share in the United States since its introduction. Bing powers the full search experience throughout Windows 8.1, with features built in to show not only links to content, but also different ways to interact with that content.

The latter portion of the presentation was devoted to showing off Microsoft's vision for its Xbox One console. The company demonstrated a number of game-creating utilities that interface with Windows 8 and Microsoft's Smart Glass app in order to let players build their own game worlds and experiences.

The presentation ended with a summation of what the company is trying to accomplish across the multiple devices it supports and services it provides. "One experience, on every device for everything important in life," was the motto projected on stage, and Ballmer ended on an optimistic note to drive home that point for developers.

The Microsoft chief predicted that the company would sell "literally hundreds of millions of Windows devices this year."

Although Windows 8 has been steadily building momentum all year, the latestnumbers from Net Applications show that its growth rate has stalled over the last month. Overall, Net Applications found that Windows 8 was on 5.4% of all desktop computers in July, up from 5.1% of all desktops in June. However, this is the slowest adoption growth rate that Windows 8 has had in months, as its growth by 0.3 percentage points is half the growth rate that the platform saw between May and June. Windows 8 adoption also grew by 0.5 percentage points between April and May, by 0.6 percentage points between March and April and by 0.5 percentage points between February and March. ​

Even as it prepares a critical update to its Windows 8 platform, Microsoft has become the target of a lawsuit alleging that the software giant misled investors regarding both Windows RT and the Surface RT device it released last year.

The lawsuit [PDF viaTechCrunch] is a class action complaint filed in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. The complaint alleges that Microsoft violated the federal securities laws with the way that it handled informing investors of the progress of the Surface RT tablet it released late last year.

The filing claims that Microsoft "led the market to believe that [its] launch of the Surface RT had been executed in a measured and conservative fashion so that it could observe and understand its progress and outcome." Instead, though, the suit calls the Surface RT launch "an unmitigated disaster, which left it with a large accumulation of excess, over-valued Surface RT inventory."

The suit goes on to claim that Microsoft issued "materially false and misleading financial statements and financial disclosures" regarding the real financial impact the Surface RT's underperformance was having on the company. Microsoft finally wrote down $900 million on the failed device at the end of the most recent quarter, and the company's stock plunged $4.04 per share, or 11.4 percent, eliminating roughly $34 billion of Microsoft's market value.

The suit also names a number of Microsoft's executives as defendants, including CEO Steve Ballmer and CFO Peter S. Klein. According to the filing, those individual defendants "are liable as participants in a fraudulent scheme and course of conduct that operated as a fraud or deceit on purchasers of Microsoft common stock" due to their sharing of information the suit deems "false and misleading," as well as their alleged "concealment" of other information.

Windows RT, a pared-down version of Windows meant to run on ARM-powered devices, was meant to give Microsoft a foothold in that low-power device market and serve as a bulwark against Apple's dominance in the segment. The operating system, though, debuted to consumer yawns and confusion, and Microsoft has been struggling to generate interest since.

Windows RT's full-powered counterpart, Windows 8, has seen little more luck as consumers are increasingly opting for Android and iOS-powered phones and tablets instead. Microsoft announced on Wednesday that a long-awaited update would arrive on October 17 under the moniker Windows 8.1. That update will give consumers the option to bypass Microsoft's "Modern" touch-centric interface in favor of the more familiar desktop layout.

The failure of the Surface RT is similar in some ways to that of Research In Motion's (now BlackBerry) PlayBook tablet. After the release of Apple's iPad in 2010, RIM attempted to roll out its own tablet device in order to capture a portion of that segment. The PlayBook sold just a half-million devices in its first quarter of availability, a quarter-million in the quarter after that, and 150,000 in the quarter following. RIM eventually took a writedown of $485 million on unsold inventory, and the company has been reluctant to re-enter the tablet market since.

Microsoft is thought to have sold a bit over 1.5 million units in total of its entire Surface line, which includes both the Surface Pro and the Surface RT. While the software giant hasn't released a detailed breakdown of Surface device sales, the majority of that 1.5 million figure is believed to consist of Surface Pro sales.

It might not be the same Start button Windows users have grown to love over the years, but its back. Microsoft on Thursday released the update many Windows 8 users have been waiting for. While Windows 8.1 may look very much the same as Windows 8 on the surface, Microsoft made two key concessions after more than a year of user backlash that has helped send the PC market into a slump in recent quarters.

First, users who arent fans of the new Windows 8 Start screen (the one with all the tiles) can now set their PCs to boot and log in directly to the Desktop view. This seems like a small concession from Microsoft but its not  Microsoft tried very, very hard to make the new Metro interface the center of Windows users world, but most users simply are not fans of the new look and feel.

Second, and perhaps even more importantly, the Start button has made its triumphant return in Windows 8.1. Clicking it takes users to the dreaded Start screen with all the tiles, but right-clicking it will bring up several familiar menu options that users had been missing from the old Start button setup.

Windows 8.1 is available immediately and its free for Windows 8 and Windows RT users.

Microsoft on Saturday yanked the Windows RT 8.1 update from its Windows Store after some Surface RT owners reported their tablets had been crippled.

In a message posted to a support forum where a customer had asked why the Windows RT 8.1 had vanished from the app store, a company representative said, Microsoft is investigating a situation affecting a limited number of users updating their Windows RT devices to Windows RT 8.1. As a result, we have temporarily removed the Windows RT 8.1 update from the Windows Store.

The representative said that engineers were working on the problem, but did not provide a timeline for when the update would be reinstated or spell out the underlying issue.

According to online reports, some users had wrapped up the Windows RT update only to see the notorious Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) display and an error message stating, Your PC needs to be repaired. The Boot Configuration Data file is missing some required information.

By corrupting the boot configuration data, the update effectively bricked the device, rendering it inoperable. Some users posted recovery instructions but they were long, involved and unlikely to be used by many.

The snafu was an embarrassment for Microsoft, as its Surface RT tablet, which debuted a year ago, has been the only Windows RT-powered device that has sold in any meaningful quantity.

While other reported problems with the Windows 8.1 update seemed to be rooted in device driver incompatibilities  understandable considering the breadth of the Windows ecosystem, which relies on a bewildering array of hardware components and peripherals, each with its own vendor-built driver  the fact that the Windows RT 8.1 update bricked the Surface RT, which has a single set of specific components and drivers, magnified the mistake.

As it stands now, Microsoft is the only vendor that has stuck with Windows RT; other OEM (original equipment manufacturer) partners have dumped the operating system from their lineups. Dell, the last besides Microsoft to support the tablet-specific OS, said three weeks ago that it had no plan to refresh its Windows RT tablets.

Some Surface RT owners were angry at Microsoft as much for not telling them that it had yanked the update as for issuing one with flaws.

It sure would have been nice if the store would have told me this instead of me spending hours trying to troubleshoot my problem, wrote jmwallace77 on the support forum. I have even spent hours to get to this buried message explaining [that] Windows RT 8.1 is being delayed.

But others, well, they were just plain mad.

Just tell me how to return my Surface RT for full refund, said ArtFolden on the same thread. I am fed up with it. It is still on warranty, and half the time it will not start up, and now it will not upgrade to 8.1, so I just want to return it.

Operating system update and upgrade glitches are not uncommon. After Microsoft and Apple issue a Windows, OS X or iOS update, a perusal of the companies support forums almost always yields reports of troubles, including device bricking, crashes or unusable applications. Its rarer, however, when a firm pulls an update.

Two years ago, scores of iPhone and iPad owners reported problems installing iOS 5, then then-new upgrade to Apples mobile operating system, with errors near the end of the process. A smattering of those users said that the upgrade had bricked their iPhones.

A new team at Microsoft thats responsible for overall OS development has clearly spent the past few months evaluating and then dropping most of the my way or the highway silliness that doomed the original Windows 8 release, Thurrott writes. The ultimate failure of Windows 8 wasnt that Microsoft embraced mobile technologies, it was that it did so without taking into account how poor this experience would be for the 1.5 billion people who use Windows on traditional PCs.

As we noted recently, Windows 8 is a hugely polarizing platform that many people love for its speed and stability but that many others hate for the massive UI changes Microsoft made to the traditional Windows model. Microsoft started making changes with Windows 8.1 to bring back more traditional desktop functionality to the platform and its apparently working to go a step farther with Windows 8.2. While the changes might not be coming as quickly as some would like  Thurrott thinks we wont see Windows 8.2 until well into 2014  Metro haters can take solace that the company is listening to their concerns.

One of BusinessKoreas sources says that although Ubuntu does not support as wide an array of programs like Windows, it is still easy to install, and has evolved into a highly sophisticated program. Whats more, the source says that PC users today do not need clunky packaged software because in a desktop environment today, users can perform most of the tasks with the aid of a simple browser.

Theres no chance well see IT departments move away in bulk from Windows, of course, largely because there is simply no way to enforce the broad array of security policies that you can get on Microsofts platform with a brand-new open-source platform like Ubuntu.

What is interesting, however, is the notion that more PC users can get a lot of what they need at work simply through a web browser. If this kind of chatter is percolating throughout IT departments then it goes a long way toward explaining why Microsoft is spending its time bashing Chromebooks, the little-used browser-based computers that have reportedly started making inroads in at public schools.

Whomever Microsoft appoints as its new CEO, it looks like theyll have to start work immediately cleaning up the mess left by Windows 8. Paul Thurrott writes thatMicrosoft is hard at work preparing a major new Windows release for April 2015 that is now codenamed Threshold. Thurrott says theres a great sense of urgency surrounding the new release because Windows 8 is tanking harder than Microsoft is comfortable discussing in public, and the latest release, Windows 8.1, which is a substantial and free upgrade with major improvements over the original release, is in use on less than 25 million PCs at the moment.

So what can we expect from Threshold? Thurrott says that it will be Microsofts attempt to basically airbrush Windows 8 out of the publics memory, which is why Microsoft will likely brand it as Windows 9. Other than that he says that maturing and fixing the Metro design language used by Windows will be a major focus area of Threshold although he admits that its not clear what changes are coming, but its safe to assume that a windowed mode that works on the desktop is part of that.

Other than that, though, it sounds as though Microsoft is still working out the details of what the new Windows will look like. Thurrott says it may be a make or break release for Microsoft and says that the company wants it to be to Windows 8 what Windows 7 was to Vista.

Although Update 1 will not include the classic Start menu Windows users have been clamoring for, some early screenshots showcase a few new features, such as the ability to pin Windows Store apps to the task bar on the desktop. ZDNets Mary Jo Foley expects the Start button to either appear in the next substantial update later this year or possibly next year when Microsoft releases the major Threshold update.

Microsoft knows that Windows 8 has been very polarizing to much of its user base but it feels that it had no choice but to try to implement some kind of touch-centric OS in a world where smartphones and tablets are eating into PC sales. Neowin has spotted some comments made by Microsoft UX designer Jacob Miller, who recently took to Reddit to explain why Microsoft made a lot of the design choices it did with Windows 8, including the original decision to make the Metro UI the default boot-up screen. What emerges is a portrait of a company trying its best to please two different audiences by trying to make two completely different operating systems and stapling them together.

Miller writes that Microsoft wanted to make the Metro UI mostly for more casual computer users who were flocking to iOS and Android devices because they offered simple and intuitive platforms for basic computing tasks. For power users, Microsoft kept the more familiar desktop mode that gave them access to more of the features they were accustomed to enjoying.

Metro is a content consumption space, he explains. It is designed for casual users who only want to check facebook, view some photos, and maybe post a selfie to instagram. Its designed for your computer illiterate little sister, for grandpas who dont know how to use that computer dofangle thingy, and for mom who just wants to look up apple pie recipes. Its simple, clear, and does one thing (and only one thing) relatively easily. That is what Metro is. It is the antithesis of a power user.

Miller goes on to explain that the Metro UI is actually a good thing for power users, however, because it will let Microsoft add a lot more features for them in the desktop mode while keeping the Metro screen separate for all of the computer illiterates out there.

Before Windows 8 and Metro came along, power users and casual users  the content creators and the content consumers  had to share the same space, he says. It was like a rented tuxedo coat  something that somewhat fit a wide variety of people. It wasnt tailored, because any aggressive tailoring would make it fit one person great, but would have others pulling at the buttons.

Windows 7 couldnt have existed without the lessons we learned from the mess that was vista, he writes. Xp couldnt have existed without 2000. Hopefully Windows 9 will be a solid refinement on all this.

I'm a win 8 user. I can understand why it was created. I have a computer that was built specifically for entertainment. HP offered a customized version of Win 8 for an entertainment PC. At first I thought it would be far above my price range. They facilitated the ultimate entertainment PC for about $600.00.

I love this PC. A change in OS from Win 8 to Win 7 wouldn't be a problem especially since it might incorporate all the features of Win XP that I really miss. Win 8 was an obvious mistake. Bill Gates is asking for a return to Win 7.

My son just purchased a Dell computer with Windows 8, he hasn't really tried to do anything much with it yet but he isn't excited about Windows 8. It is a great computer, Intel i7-4770, 24GB RAM, good video card, SSD and 2TB SATA HD, I don't remember all of the specs but it is a powerhouse. I am living with a three year old Windows 7 laptop that is handling Plex and PlayOn surprisingly well so I have put my search for an HTPC on hold. Prices are attractive right now for the kind of computer my son bought which is overkill for what I need. I haven't used Windows 8 at all but the little I have seen of it makes me think I can live with it if I need to.

If your Win 7 meets yer needs, do not even think about changing to Win 8. Most of us would welcome a downgrade to Win 7. But the future of windows is unfortunately a hybrid form of windows RT or Metro as it is better known. While the mainstream computer assessment of Windows 8 is still quite negative, what it can do in performance as an alternative to set top box streaming is quite remarkable. I know you don't like the PC interface as you've known it. HP has changed that w/this version of Win 8. I can't explain it other than to say ya gotta try a customized version of Win 8, hell, or even win 7. It'll make our GTVs look like a retrograde version of the DOS system. We can now build our PCs for entertainment exclusively at much less cost then before. I'm not a computer friendly user but Dell can never do what HP has done to make your PC the center of your entertainment system. But that said, I still wouldn't trust em if Microsoft takes another turn to disenfranchise users.

Microsoft isfinally bringing a notification center to Windows Phone in the next major update. Action Center, as it has been dubbed, works almost identically to the notification centers that appear on Android and iOS devices. Simply swipe down from the top of the screen to reveal a log of messages, emails and updates you havent checked yet. A bar at the top of the Action Center will feature a set of four customizable buttons for quick access. If you find yourself in the airport on a weekly basis, put Airplane Mode in the shortcut bar; if youre constantly fiddling with the brightness settings, you can slide that to the top as well. Check out the video below and breathe a sigh of relief that Windows Phone 8.1 is finally catching up with the competition.

If your Win 7 meets yer needs, do not even think about changing to Win 8. Most of us would welcome a downgrade to Win 7. But the future of windows is unfortunately a hybrid form of windows RT or Metro as it is better known. While the mainstream computer assessment of Windows 8 is still quite negative, what it can do in performance as an alternative to set top box streaming is quite remarkable. I know you don't like the PC interface as you've known it. HP has changed that w/this version of Win 8. I can't explain it other than to say ya gotta try a customized version of Win 8, hell, or even win 7. It'll make our GTVs look like a retrograde version of the DOS system. We can now build our PCs for entertainment exclusively at much less cost then before. I'm not a computer friendly user but Dell can never do what HP has done to make your PC the center of your entertainment system. But that said, I still wouldn't trust em if Microsoft takes another turn to disenfranchise users.

Just saying...

Carl

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I thought Windows 8 was going to be terrific when I saw some pre-release information, then it came out and it seems like so few people like it, I haven't given it a chance myself. If it isn't completely scrapped in the next year, I will try it at some point. Windows 7 does meet my needs so there is no sense of urgency.

I have windows 8.1 and I hate it. But I love my PC. Lol! So, I guess it depends more on the PC than the OS. Years earlier I had Win Vista. It worked for me until the Dell PC crapped out. Turned out they were sticking labels on their old e-machines and selling them as Vista qualified when in fact both in memory & processor they were deficient for even Win Vista Home Basic. Folks fought & won a class action a few years later.